Second Chances
by morphs
Summary: This begins as series 2 ends. An attempt to rewrite... My first ever foray into fanfic - not sure yet how many chapters but we'll see.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

As the music changed, Caroline was aware once more of the room around her. Kate moved back slightly, slipped her hands down to meet Caroline's and held them. Their eyes were locked in recognition, an understanding that in that moment, everything had changed. Caroline felt a hand on her arm and looked down. Gillian.

"Go," Gillian whispered. "I'll sort this out, here" gesturing to the party, the guests. Caroline smiled. She and Gillian had come a long way since their first meeting and this thoughtfulness and care from her new step-sister was touching.

"Thank you." Caroline covered Gillian's hand with her own and gave it a squeeze before her attention was caught by William, smiling broadly from across the dance floor. Caroline pointed toward the door and he nodded. Her eyes flicked to Lawrence and back and William nodded again. Kate squeezed her hand.

"Come on." Kate's arm curled around Caroline's waist and she began moving toward the door.

"My mum.." Caroline began, looking in Celia's direction and then back at Kate. Kate nodded. Caroline took Kate's hand and stepped towards Celia and Alan. Alan broke away from Celia and took Caroline's hand, gripping it in both of his. He beamed at her and kissed her on the cheek.

"Night Caroline love. Thank you, for all of this, for today."

"You're welcome Alan. It was our pleasure." She kissed his cheek in return. "Night." Alan repeated the gesture, kissing Kate's cheek this time, and Caroline couldn't help feeling proud of her new family. Her attention turned to Celia and, expecting to see animosity, Caroline met Celia's gaze. She knew that her mother had moved forward in her views about Caroline's 'choices', but she didn't imagine that kissing Kate on the dance floor in front of all of their guests would elicit an entirely positive response. Whilst there wasn't a complete absence of hostility, Caroline could see warmth in her mother's expression. Celia reached up and stroked Caroline's face.

"Night love." She spoke warmly and Caroline relaxed, grateful to not be putting Kate though any more family drama. Celia smiled at Kate.

"Thank you. For inviting me, Celia. It really was kind of you." Kate's voice was soft and conciliatory; genuine.

"No, love. Thank _you_." Caroline was surprised by Celia's unexpected warmth toward Kate and more than a little moved. Kate and Celia shared a brief but sincere embrace before Kate recovered Caroline's hand and met her eye.

"Ok?" Kate's thumb stroked the back of Caroline's hand.

"Ok." Caroline nodded and took a deep breath. She looked at the door and back at Kate. "Do you want to...I mean...shall we...?" She wasn't entirely sure what the next step was; she didn't want to assume anything and she definitely didn't want to mess this up.

"Let's get some tea and go upstairs shall we?" Kate seemed to understand Caroline's uncertainty and led her out of the ballroom.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Once they were out in the main foyer of the hotel, Caroline's anxiety about what might be about to happen began to build. She could feel that familiar weight pressing down on her. She couldn't help thinking about how everything had unravelled the last time they had both been here; she stopped suddenly and turned to look at Kate.

"Kate...I..." she hesitated. Not being able to find the right words was something Caroline was not used to in her everyday life. She was able, usually, to retain huge amounts of information and articulate the necessary points clearly to whomever needed instruction. In her relationship with Kate, however, she often found that she got it wrong or worse still, found it too difficult to try. The latter usually resulted in flippancy, hostility or the search for a means to escape. She knew, however, now, that this second chance would end in abrupt disaster if she was unable to direct her response away from any of those options now. She paused and took a breath. In the quiet, without the music of the ballroom, her breath sounded louder than she had expected. That weight was pressing harder and Caroline knew that she would not be able to survive rejection again.

"It's ok Caroline." Kate's voice was steady. "I'm here. I came back. I'm not leaving again." Kate had been touched, earlier in the day, by Caroline's earnest speech about Celia and Alan and spending the day watching Caroline with her family had been enough, after the other things, to lead Kate to finally understand that all Caroline had really needed was time. Caroline had looked so utterly defeated as Kate had said her farewells and there had been a vulnerability evident in her eyes that Kate had never seen before. She knew that this wasn't going to be quickly or easily fixed, but once she had reached home, she'd known that she needed Caroline to know what she had been thinking and that it couldn't wait. And so she'd come back, to the scene of her crime, knowing that Caroline's response might not be in any way positive, especially given the times that Caroline had laid bare her feelings for Kate with voluntarily exposed honesty, attempting reconciliation. And now, Caroline and all her fear stood before her waiting to hear what was coming next.

Kate's hands moved to Caroline's arms, gripping her firmly, holding her still and steady.

"Look, I know this isn't easy, Caroline. I know I can't just walk back in here and expect you to forget all the things I said and how I treated you and let me back into your life, your family, as if nothing happened. And I know things are clearly different now," she looked down at herself, "but I'd like to try and explain some things. If you'll listen."

Caroline exhaled, not realising she had been holding her breath while Kate was talking. She needed to say something. Quickly. But she couldn't quite form the words. She _did_ want to listen to Kate but she had her own explaining to do, her own apologies to make and her own forgiveness to seek. She opened her mouth and closed it again, still not ready to verbalise her thoughts.

"It doesn't have to be now, Caroline." came Kate's steady voice again.

"Don't go." Pleading.

"I'm not going, Caroline. I'm staying tonight, if you'll let me and we can talk or not talk, we can do whatever, but I'm not leaving this hotel without you again." Caroline's relief was palpable. She exhaled powerfully as she realised she was in danger of her legs no longer being able to hold her up. Kate held her in a powerful grip, supporting her, rescuing her, again. Kate's touch made Caroline shiver; she was so close that Caroline could smell Kate's perfume and feel the warmth from her body. Caroline was facing the very real possibility that she was, in fact, going to pass out, when Kate took what seemed like an executive decision and guided her toward the fireplace and a sofa. Caroline fell into the offered seat and closed her eyes.

Kate sat down next to Caroline and took Caroline's hand in both of hers, rubbing it gently, trying to keep Caroline at the surface. She had expected Caroline to be surprised or to react badly, even for there to be tears, but she had not expected Caroline's, clearly not insignificant, depth of feeling to result in such disintegration. It only served to add to her own depth of feeling and her own immediate need to comfort and reassure the woman she loved. They both needed absolution. Kate reached out and touched Caroline's face with the side of her thumb, laying her fingers on the side of her beautiful neck.

"Caroline?" Caroline's eyes opened and she squeezed Kate's hand.

"I'm sorry." Quietly. Almost no sound emerging from Caroline's lips.

"Don't be sorry." Caroline studied Kate's face. Kate was waiting for her. Patient, kind, gentle Kate. Caroline allowed herself to think, just for a moment before she checked herself, that this might be alright; it really was happening and Kate really was here.

They sat for several minutes, looking at the fire. Caroline's breathing evened out as she began to regain some degree of self-control. Eventually, she was able to meet Kate's eyes.

"Why did you come back?"

"I.." Kate paused and looked around the room. There were people coming and going, phones ringing, people talking, shouting to one another. This wasn't entirely how she had envisaged the necessary forgiveness being requested and granted. "Caroline, I do want to explain, to start talking about all of this, but not here. Can we go upstairs? I mean, I'm not suggesting anything ...you know...and I don't have to stay, not if you don't want me to, but..." She stopped, not sure what Caroline's response would be.

"Ok." Caroline nodded, pushed herself to her feet and held out her hand. Kate smiled and took it in hers, silently giving thanks for Caroline's consent.


	3. Chapter 3

Once Caroline had collected her key from the reception desk and asked for some tea to be brought to her room, the women made their way up the grand staircase to Caroline's room. Opening the door, Caroline was filled, suddenly and overwhelmingly, with the memory of that weekend. Her motivation, all those months ago, for bringing Kate here had been to talk her out of trying to have a baby and she had spent the last long months coming to the understanding that it had been wrong of her to have wanted to do that. She wondered now how she could possibly have been so cruel as to dismiss Kate's fundamental need to have a child of her own. To expect Kate to watch her with William and Lawrence, to develop her own relationship with them even, but never to experience motherhood for herself.

She forced herself to push it back down inside her. She knew they would need to talk about what had happened but she also knew that she couldn't think about that yet. She still wasn't sure she dared think about reconciliation. She concentrated instead on Kate's hand in hers. Warm and soft and familiar. Her thumb stroked the back of Kate's fingers and she recognised the bumps and crevices of the skin there. The recognition steadied her and she felt herself calmer in Kate's presence. Kate stepped into the room after her and Caroline was suddenly aware of the rather uncharacteristic mess she had left carelessly that morning. She shut the door and glanced sheepishly at Kate.

"Um... who are you and what have you done with _my_ Caroline?" Kate grinned.

"_Your_ Caroline?" Caroline started to pick up the clothes that were draped across the chair and on the bed, looking across in embarrassment at the unmade bed.

"Yes." Kate nodded, still grinning. Caroline swept the make up from the dressing table into its bag and tossed it into the overnight bag on the floor. She stopped to look at Kate.

"I've always been yours, Kate, I think. Really from almost the first time we met. It just..." she took a sudden inward breath, "it just took me a while to understand that...and what that meant." She frowned. "I _am_ sorry, Kate, for all the things I got wrong, for all the times I hurt you, for all the times I was just too much of a coward." Kate could see the tears beginning to threaten Caroline's only recently recovered composure. She closed the gap between them and pulled Caroline to her, slipping her arms around Caroline's waist. Caroline responded, willingly, wrapping her arms around Kate's neck, burying her face in Kate's hair and breathing in the smell of her skin. They stood still, holding each other, for several minutes, remembering how it felt to be together, how it felt to be able to touch each other and breathe each other in.

There was a knock at the door.

"Room service," came a voice from the other side. The women reluctantly let go of each other and moved apart. Caroline opened the door and watched as the young waiter crossed the room to set down the tea tray on the small coffee table in front of the sofa.

"Thank you so much." Caroline's Headteacher voice was back as she addressed the waiter. She followed him back to the door and shut it behind him. As she turned, Kate was already setting out the cups and lowering herself carefully onto the sofa.

"Good lord, Kate, I didn't think!" Caroline exclaimed. In the surprise that had followed Kate's reappearance, she had almost forgotten her advancing pregnancy. "You must be tired." She moved towards Kate and placed her hand on Kate's shoulder, sitting closely beside her, their bodies touching, all the way down. She looked at Kate's face. "How're you doing?" Caroline spoke more gently.

"I'm fine really...tired, you know what it's like. I'm getting bigger and it's harder to move around, get comfortable...you know. But, I'm fine, Caroline. I'm not _too_ tired. You know, for you, for us to talk." Kate moved her hand across to Caroline's knee and squeezed it gently. She felt Caroline coming back to her, the together Caroline, the not-frightened Caroline and she was relieved. Kate couldn't even begin trying to verbalise the way she had missed Caroline while they'd been apart. She'd missed everything about her, even the things she'd once found difficult. She'd missed waking up to see her face, she'd missed the comfortable silences of their companionship; she'd even missed the chaos that was Caroline's life. Not knowing what was happening to the woman she loved was much worse, it turned out, than being consumed by it. And although she didn't want to be cast aside in favour of it again, she did want to be part of Caroline's life again. Very much.

Kate sat forward and poured the tea, suddenly grateful for the comforting warmth of the cup in her hand and the tea as she drank it. She slid Caroline's cup gently along the coffee table and turned the handle to face her.

"Thank you." Caroline's voice was quiet again. She lifted the cup to her lips, appreciative that it wasn't more champagne. The two women sat quietly again, as they drank their tea, and listened to the sounds from outside the room. It was getting late, nearly ten; they were able to hear footsteps in the corridor outside and other people's doors closing. Both women silently hoped that they wouldn't be disturbed. They both hoped that Caroline's usually high maintenance family would not come looking for her until the morning, but they also realised that it wasn't totally impossible. Once both cups had been returned to the tray, the women sat back in their seats and contemplated each other.

Caroline reached her arm out and hesitated for a second as she brought it closer to Kate's bump. She looked up at Kate wordlessly waiting for Kate to allow her touch. Kate's face broke into a smile and permission was so granted. Caroline lowered her hand and felt Kate's ripened body under her rounded palm. She moved her hand slowly up and down.

"Hello little one." Caroline had waited too long to be able to do this. The little girl growing inside Kate had taken a place in Caroline's heart, when she'd seen her at Kate's scan, and she closed her eyes, revelling in the feel of both Kate and her unborn child. Suddenly, Caroline's touch was rewarded as the baby met her hand, kicking inside Kate. Caroline gasped. "Kate!" Kate smiled again.

"She's not usually active at this time of time; she's saying hello back!"

"Is she? Is she really? You're not just saying that?"

Kate shook her head, taking huge pleasure in Caroline's joy. "No, Caroline, she usually makes her presence known during the early evening and quite often in the early hours of the morning... but not often late at night, like this."

"Right. Ok...blimey Kate, she's amazing!" Caroline looked up at Kate again with wide eyes and then down again. There were so many things Caroline wanted to tell this baby, about how much she loved her already, about what her life would be like. But not yet. She didn't want to make assumptions about what might or might not happen. "Hello sweetheart. I can't wait to meet you. You're going to be so lucky, so loved." Caroline's voice cracked with emotion and even as she tried to stop them, her eyes began to fill with tears.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Watching Caroline's interaction with her unborn child, Kate knew that her decision to come back to the wedding had been the right one. Her doubts disappeared. She knew that Caroline would love her child, _their_ child, and would protect and look after them both. It was understandable that Caroline had been unsure about taking this step with her, of course it was, and Kate realised now that the pressure she had put Caroline under had been selfish. While she couldn't regret her pregnancy, she knew that the way she'd gone about it hadn't really been her. The need to be somebody's mum had overwhelmed her, taken over everything. She had watched, for years, while her friends had got married, had babies, been happy. But it had been different for her. After four miscarriages and a divorce, there wasn't really much to talk about with her school friends, university friends, and as she got older, work friends even. This thing, this _deficiency_, isolated her from them; almost all the women she knew had passed the test and gained admission to a club from which she, for some reason, was barred. And she genuinely hadn't wanted to do it by herself. It was only when Caroline had asked her to move in permanently, that she'd become obsessed with what she had seen as her last chance. Even after Caroline was no longer part of the equation, she hadn't been prepared to give up this last chance. It seemed almost absurd now, that she would have risked this, this precious thing, with Caroline, but she couldn't regret the gift of this life growing inside her.

Kate looked down at Caroline, the contentment and deep rooted sense of belonging swelling inside her. She reached out and stroked Caroline's hair, drawing it away from her face so she was able to see her. Kate saw the tears brimming in Caroline's eyes and opened her arms, inviting Caroline to them. Caroline shifted in her seat, leaning back into Kate's arms and resting her head on Kate's chest. Closing her eyes, Caroline simultaneously willed the tears away and let them flow. Kate enveloped Caroline in her arms with a brutal tenderness.

"I came back because I realised that things would be different, now." Kate kissed the top of Caroline's head. "You were always such a closed book, Caroline – before, you know, us, I used to look at you and wonder what you were thinking. You were so private, you didn't give anything away. Even after we'd started... after I'd moved in, I always had a sense that you sort of withdrew from me, from us, when the conversation, the argument sometimes, got to a certain point. You worked things out, in your head, by yourself, and then shared them with me – we were never... a team, I guess. But tonight, I saw something else. When you talked about your mum, and Alan, you were different. You were honest and open and there was no hiding somehow. Does that make sense?" Kate stroked Caroline's hair as she talked, still holding her securely. There was a pause before Caroline responded.

"I'm learning, Kate." Caroline wanted to turn to see Kate's face but these conversations, she was starting to find, were easier when Kate couldn't study hers. She focused on the leg of the coffee table. "And I'm trying. I'm learning to fight that part of myself that wants to detach when things get uncomfortable. And I've spent a lot of time thinking about the things I'm not very good at." Caroline exhaled and turned her face into Kate's shoulder, finding Kate's warm skin at the wide neckline of her dress.

Kate tightened her arms around Caroline, dipped her head down and kissed Caroline's forehead softly. She waited for Caroline to continue, knowing that this needed to go at Caroline's pace. Caroline lifted her head and reached up to Kate's lips, planting a kiss, gently but expressively, sending an ever so slight shiver through Kate's body. Feeling the visceral reaction to her kiss, Caroline was encouraged to continue.

"I've spent such a long time trying to avoid things, trying to avoid how I really feel, how I feel at all, that unlearning that habit, Kate, is... it's hard. No one's ever wanted me to be different before, certainly no one at school has ever been interested in anything that might be underneath the 'Head teacher' part of me. And John?" Caroline shook her head. "John was selfish, I was selfish, we both did our own thing and I had the boys and...I don't know... it was just how things were. There were times, I think, when my mother tried to talk, I mean _really_ talk, to me, but I don't think she really knew how to do it either. She'd been so unhappy for so long too."

"Too?"

Caroline was puzzled by Kate's question for a second, before she realised that Kate wanted her to admit how unhappy _she_ had been. To herself. To both of them.

"Yes, as well as me. I didn't really know _how_ unhappy until John left and it didn't really feel any different. I mean, I felt humiliated and I was worried about the boys and what people would think and I felt worthless Kate," Caroline shut her eyes briefly, "but I didn't actually miss him. I noticed his absence, not emotionally, but... just ...things were...different. And then it dawned on me how... grey... my life had become. It wasn't awful, I mean, John and I argued, fought even, but it wasn't violent and I had a beautiful home, beautiful children, my mother, my job. But it wasn't exciting. It wasn't filled with love and laughter and possibilities. I turned myself, somehow, somewhere along the way, into someone who couldn't do those things." Caroline stopped talking and looked at Kate. She moved back a little, enough for Kate to release her, and took Kate's face in her hands, "And then you came along."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

**A/N Thanks for all the reviews and comments - all very much appreciated, particularly as I have never written like this before. This isn't the end of this story (despite the last line sounding as though it might be) - I have a lot more to say in my efforts to forget some of the decisions made in series 3...**

Caroline hoped that this time, she'd got the words right, that she'd said them in the right way, without appearing foolish, or fraudulent. She needed Kate to understand the difference she had made to her life, and to the boys' lives by extension, and for her to understand that she knew it too. That she didn't see Kate as an optional extra, that there was nothing _optional_ about Kate's place in her life. Her brow furrowed and she pressed her lips together, waiting for some sense from Kate that she had got it right, or at least some way towards right.

Kate blinked slowly and looked at Caroline's face as though there were nothing else. She studied the oceans that were Caroline's eyes, marvelling at the complexities of the worlds she found there. The dejected Caroline she had seen earlier had vanished, forever if she was going to have anything to do with it, and had been replaced with someone not unlike _her_ Caroline, but not exactly like her either. Kate brought her hands up to meet the backs of Caroline's and smiled.

"I did." Kate's voice, steady and present, reassured Caroline. It seemed as though she were not doing too badly; she returned Kate's smile, exhaling and feeling some of her tension dissipate. Kate allowed Caroline to weave their fingers together and bring their hands down to rest on her bump; both women were again quiet for a time. After several minutes, Caroline shifted round in her seat and rested her elbow on the back of the sofa, looking at Kate. She extended her arm, brushing the side of Kate's face with the backs of her fingers, and then brought her hand to rest in Kate's hair, allowing her thumb to gently caress Kate's temple. Kate's eyes closed and she leant into Caroline's touch.

Caroline had felt the loss of Kate, after that weekend, more deeply and more completely than she had ever felt anything before. It had taken over everything, overwhelmed her, and during the time she and Kate had been apart, she was sure that her staff had noticed a sharp reduction in the time it took for the dragon to initiate fire-breathing. In fact, she knew that they had because even she had noticed the sideways glances and even more hushed whispering and abruptly ended conversations upon her entry to a room or appearance in a corridor. It had only been Beverley who had tried to make things easier for her; she'd just become further removed from the remainder of the staff. Even her Deputy Heads had kept their distance, not wanting to risk anger or probably what they might think more unspeakable, tears. But it was in her personal life that she had felt most bereft; Kate had begun to form a relationship with both boys on their own terms and was part of Caroline and her whole life, in a way that John had never been. For so many years, Caroline had grown so much into her role as Head Teacher, she had forgotten how to shake off that exterior when she got home and John had certainly never helped her take a step back from being the disciplinarian. Kate was different; Kate wanted to see her softer side and needed to see the vulnerable her. Kate wanted an equal partnership and Caroline now realised that when she thought she was actually shielding Kate, she was actually just hiding and controlling things. She needed Kate and she hadn't realised how much until she'd blown it.

"I won't hide this, Kate, I mean it. I just won't. I don't care what the staff room thinks or what the governors think or what my mother thinks or John or the staff at the hotel," looking emphatically at Kate with wide eyes, her voice becoming louder and the words coming out more and more quickly. "They can cast their judgments, shake their heads, call the newspapers for all I care. That's it. I'm finished with trying to make other people happy and being so damn unhappy myself." Caroline stood up in frustration and marched over to the window where she looked out, hands on her hips, breathing quick, short breaths. "Let's face it, my mother probably isn't going to be happy, right now. But I hope she will be. Soon. One day." She paused and took another short breath, still looking out of the window, taking in the people gathering in the courtyard below, having a cigarette, waiting for a taxi, looking up at the sky and the gently falling snowflakes. "And I think the boys are ok. William definitely is, I think he'd be happy whatever as long as I was. But I think Lawrence will be ok too." Caroline gripped the window sill tightly and leant forwards. "But...it _is _hard, Kate. To be brave about this." She spoke more quietly now, her head bent. Kate pushed herself up out from the comfort of the sofa, with effort, and closed the gap between her and Caroline. She stood against Caroline, pushed her fingers between Caroline's elbows and body and wrapped her arms around her, resting her chin on Caroline's shoulder.

"You don't have to do it by yourself." Kate added softly, nestling her face against Caroline's neck and planting soft kisses there. "I'm here. I came back and that's it. I shouldn't have left. I shouldn't have left that first time after your mother...you know... but even more than that, I shouldn't have done it here, that weekend. What I said to you, Caroline, it was awful of me. And I'm sorry, I'm sorry for hurting you so carelessly, but I'm more sorry for just walking away and leaving you like that. I knew it would hurt you, I knew, every time I saw you after that, at work, when you came to my house, that I'd hurt you, that you were shattered and I hate myself for doing that to you. And I'm _sorry_. I need you to understand why I did it and I want to tell you. Not now, but tomorrow or the day after, or the day after that. Right now, I need you to understand that I won't do that again – I am _never_ going to just walk away from you, from us again. I'm sorry that I made you lose faith in me, that you might not be able to trust me again, that you might not believe that I won't leave you again." Kate held her arms firmly around Caroline and kissed her neck again, pressing her face deep into Caroline's neck.

Ignoring the moisture gathering in her own eyes, Caroline was suddenly conscious of the dampness of Kate's face at her neck and twisted herself around in Kate's arms to face her. Seeing the agony in Kate's eyes, Caroline slipped her hands up to Kate's face and tried to stem her tears with her thumbs. Holding Kate's face in her hands, Caroline kissed her lips, her cheeks, her eyes, before returning, more tenderly this time, to her lips. As their lips separated, Caroline rested her forehead lightly against Kate's, the tips of their noses touching.

Caroline's voice became a whisper; she almost couldn't ask, but she knew that it had to be said and she knew she had to hear Kate say it. "Promise me, Kate, that whatever happens, however difficult things get, that you won't ever just leave. That you'll always talk to me, however difficult that might be, that whatever each day brings, each night will bring us home, together, to sleep next to each other, you and me. Whatever happens, Kate." There was silence for a moment. The two women, eyes locked, breathing together.

"I promise." Kate's eyes told Caroline all she needed to know and she gathered Kate into her arms exhaling slowly. Caroline felt the calm that had been evading her all these months slowly seep through her body, flushing out the bitterness, the resentment and the anger. Kate's words had readied the hole that had been ripped inside her for repair. There would need to be more talking and a lot more forgiving, but the gap was bridged and Caroline dared to hope.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

After a long time, Caroline broke away from their embrace and smiled at Kate.

"It's late." Caroline wanted to know what Kate was going to do, whether she was going to stay, as she'd said earlier or whether she would change her mind and go home, only she couldn't quite bring herself to ask. Caroline wanted to cling on, to stop Kate going out of her sight ever again, but she wasn't entirely sure whether Kate wanted even remotely the same thing. She crossed the room, her eyes sweeping the floor for the bag she'd left somewhere that morning. Finding it, she picked it up and looked back at Kate. "Kate... I... will..." she hesitated, not knowing how to phrase her question without sounding like she was trying to control things.

"Do you ... want me to stay, Caroline?" Kate, struck again by the magnitude of emotions and information that Caroline's eyes could convey to her, knew immediately what she was struggling with. It _was_ late and they had heard other guests making their way to their rooms, to their beds. Kate was tired; she would have been tired, baby or not, after the wedding and the events of the last hour or so, but certainly her pregnancy was starting to slow her down.

Caroline nodded and made no effort to hide her relief. Kate tried to suppress a yawn but she was too late and Caroline moved effortlessly into action mode.

"Kate, you must be exhausted. You've put up with my family all day and then... all of this. Let's just go to bed. We can talk tomorrow...whenever. Let's just go to bed. Are you sure you...do you want me to... I can see if there are any other rooms...if you...?" Caroline suddenly, clumsily, realised that she didn't want to just assume Kate would stay with her, in her room.

"Caroline, relax, its fine. I want to stay with _you_, not somewhere else!" Kate smiled at Caroline's caution.

"Ok. I just didn't want to...assume... you know, that you wanted to be here. With me."

"I do."

"Good. I want you to be here too."

Kate sat down on the edge of the bed, automatically on the side that she always slept on before that weekend. Realising she was still holding her bag and remembering why she had picked it up in the first place, Caroline reached into it, rummaging around for her phone. Eventually finding it, she pulled it out and looked at it, pressed a few buttons and set it down automatically on the bedside table on her side of the bed. She threw her bag back down where she'd found it and turned her attention once more to Kate.

"Any drama?" Kate knew Caroline's family well and didn't expect for a moment that they wouldn't have had any need for Caroline in the time they'd been away.

"Just a message from William saying he's made sure Lawrence and Angus are ok in their room, not tearing the place apart thankfully, and that he and Roxy have gone to bed. He says they'll see us at breakfast."

"He's such a sweet boy, Caroline." Caroline nodded. Kate paused for a few seconds before continuing. "I didn't bring any things with me, Caroline. I didn't even think about it."

"Well, that's not going to be too much of an issue is it? I've probably brought the bathroom essentials, I should think. I'll pop down to reception in a minute and grab some extra towels and see if they've got any toothbrushes. Can you think of anything else?"

"I don't think so. Thank you, Caroline." In her tiredness, Kate was ready to be looked after and thankful for Caroline's care and characteristic attentiveness, she watched Caroline from the bed, almost with adulation.

Caroline walked around to Kate's side of the bed and knelt down on the floor in front of her, leaning her forearms on Kate's knees. She reached up and traced a line down the side of Kate's face with her finger, before gently tugging her closer and kissing her slowly and keenly. Kate readily leant in, returning the kiss, happy to soak in everything that was Caroline. Eventually and somewhat reluctantly, Caroline pulled away.

"Ok. I'll be back in a minute." Caroline stood up and headed for the door. "Use whatever you want, Kate, its fine."

"Ok. Don't be long."

Caroline smiled at Kate and let herself out of the door, closing it behind her as quietly as she could. She paused for a minute, outside the door, caught in a moment of disbelief. She let her head rest back on the door frame and took several slow deep breaths. Less than two hours previously, she couldn't have felt more desperate, more wretched, and now, at odds with everything she had expected the day to bring, she had been redeemed. After endless weeks of just barely surviving, she had suddenly been given her life back. She knew she should probably go and make sure that Lawrence and Angus weren't causing anyone any trouble but she didn't want Kate out of her physical reach for any more time than was totally necessary and decided against making a detour.

Kate looked around the room, taking in the sight of Caroline's clothes and shoes, now carefully deposited in all the right places. She kicked off her shoes and tested her weight on the bed, bouncing gently to gauge the firmness of the mattress. It was all very plush, very Caroline, and Kate was certainly appreciating the privacy of the hotel as it might compare with the madness of Conway Drive. Kate pulled herself up from the bed and stretched the muscles in her back; as her pregnancy went on, she had been experiencing more persistent back pain, mostly when she was sitting upright. She saw Caroline's overnight bag on the floor by the dressing table and wondered whether she might have brought something that Kate could sleep in. Kate delved inside and found a couple of vests right at the bottom. Pulling them out of the bag, she brought them to her face, inhaling their scent. This smell, of Caroline and her clothes, wasn't something that Kate had been aware of having missed until now, but she had, and suddenly she needed Caroline to be back with her. She needed to be as close as possible to this woman she had nearly lost.


End file.
